


Won't You Stay With Me?

by saviourhale



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/M, Fluff and Angst, barry is a big dumb, caitlin gets a job offer, idk how to tag this???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 13:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3852619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saviourhale/pseuds/saviourhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I got a job offer in New York” Caitlin blurts out the next morning.</p>
<p>“Aha! I knew you were hiding something, I am the master!” Cisco exclaims standing up from his chair and raising his arms in victory.</p>
<p>“Cisco, you literally did nothing, she’s just told you herself” Barry says rolling his eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Won't You Stay With Me?

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my love's fic, read her version [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3590856)

Deadlines have always been something of relative importance to Caitlin, mostly absurd and pointless, and quite frankly she hated dealing with them. It was such a hassle keeping up with them, and she preferred to do things at her own pace and get them done right rather than rushing herself and half assing her job. She knew what she had to do, and how to do it, there was no need to add a time limit to something that she knew was of importance.

In summary, according to Caitlin, deadlines sucked ass. However, as life would have it she had a few deadlines and there was one she had been trying to avoid the hardest, she’d been putting it off for quite some time now and she only hoped that if she wished hard enough it probably would go away.

There was no such luck on that.

In the span of three weeks she still had yet to do anything about it, and she was expected to make a life changing decision in a month. How these people believed that to be a reasonable time period boggled her mind.

Instead of dealing with the issue, like everything else in her life that she’d rather not face until the last possible minute, she ignored it and went about her time as if it were no big deal.

Of course that was the worst decision she ever made.

She was reminded of it a week ago when she came back from a tiring day at the lab and she sat down on her couch, listening to a stupid voice-mail from the lab back in New York. Ever since, she’s been paranoid that Barry and Cisco could find out any second and they’d be outraged she didn’t have the decency to tell them herself.

-

“You’ve been acting extra weird these past couple of days, is everything okay?” Cisco asks one day while they’re finishing up at the lab.

“You know what? Cisco’s right, you’ve been a little jumpy, well— more so than usual I mean” Barry amends, and Caitlin rolls her eyes because she’s not jumpy. “And you’ve been unusually quiet too”

Well, maybe a little jumpy, and the quietness is just a means to keep herself from spewing something crazy like ‘hey guys I might move to New York for an indefinite amount of time, not let’s catch ourselves a meta-human yeah?’

“Firstly, I’m not jumpy, says I’m jumpy?” Caitlin deflects.

“You’ve also been doing a lot of that” Cisco smirks pointing at her.

“A lot of what? You guys are seeing things, honestly” Caitlin scoffs.

“Deflecting” Barry and Cisco say in unison.

“What? Deflecting? When? That’s ridiculous” Caitlin babbles. They stare at her pointedly and she sighs. “I’m fine you guys, I promise, it’s probably PMS or something” Caitlin jokes.

The guys eye her carefully for a moment and Caitlin fears her anxiety will get the best of her and she’ll end up blurting the truth to them.

She’s literally two seconds away from screaming, “Don’t question greatness damn it!”

It’s a good thing they seem to believe her and drop the subject. Barry shrugs and Cisco stares at her for another minute, squinting at her from his spot across the lab. She raises an eyebrow at him and he just smiles at her returning to the previous task at hand.

Caitlin turns on her heel and blows out a puff of air. There is a god, and he is real, Caitlin thinks to herself.

-

“Alright, so are you going to tell me what’s eating at you or am I going to have to keep bugging you until you break?” Cisco corners her by her car that same night, popping out of nowhere and nearly scaring the pee out of her.

“Cisco!” Caitlin exclaims clutching her purse and car keys to her chest. She’s breathing hard and staring at her friend with wide eyes.

She should have known Cisco dropping the subject was too good to be true. He wasn’t the type to give up easily, especially if he thought Caitlin was hiding something. He always notices these kinds of things, Caitlin thinks he’s got some sort of special ESP specifically attuned to her or something because he literally always just knows.

It’s like he’s become attuned to Caitlin’s mannerisms over the years. For the most part, it’s touching and admirable, but at this moment it’s so utterly inconvenient.

“God damn it Cisco, you just about made me throw up my heart, what is wrong with you!” Caitlin admonishes breathing a little more easily.

“What’s wrong with me? No, what’s wrong with you? PMS Cait? Seriously, that’s what you shot for? I don’t buy that story, since when is ever PMS a thing for you? You’ve never once in the time since I’ve met you, used PMS as an excuse” Cisco tells her.

“Can you stop saying PMS?” Caitlin begs scrunching up her nose. “Your eye twitches every time you say it, literally I just saw your eye crinkle up about five times” she’s laughing now and Cisco is not amused. “Seriously, there’s nothing going on, god Cisco stop being a worrywart” she tells him.

“I will prevail Snow, mark my words, this is not over!” Cisco vows dramatically.

“Sure, of course. Go home Cisco!” Caitlin laughs. Cisco just shakes his head and retreats back to where he’s parked.

A few seconds later, her phone vibrates, signaling she’s got a text message.

I will prevail!! - C.R

Caitlin laughs unlocking her car, she’s not going anywhere. No, she could never leave this place behind, it’s her home, and it’s where all her friends are.

-

“I got a job offer in New York” Caitlin blurts out the next morning.

“Aha! I knew you were hiding something, I am the master!” Cisco exclaims standing up from his chair and raising his arms in victory.

“Cisco, you literally did nothing, she’s just told you herself” Barry says rolling his eyes.

She’s kind of stop breathing and she’s staring at Barry and Cisco with wide eyes. The realization of how real this is hits her hard and she’s struggling to catch her breath. Dear god, this is not how she was planning on this going. She was supposed to tell them differently, maybe during lunch, or who knows.

She did not plan on just blurting the news out, but then she saw them there, going about their business so normally it made her heart ache something fierce and she vomited the words out before she could talk herself out of it.

“Caitlin—Cait, look at me and breathe!” Barry has both of his hands on either side of her face, coaxing her to even out her breathing. Caitlin nods erratically and concentrates on her breathing.

“Whatever Barry, I am the master, and you are not” Cisco says trying to lighten up the mood once Caitlin seems to regain control of her breathing. “And wait what? You said what now?” his brain seems to be catching up with the events because his face goes through a series of emotions, finally settling on confusion.

“She’s got a job offer from New York” Barry repeats.

“A job offer from New York?” Cisco asks with wide eyes, Barry drags the pad of his thumb across Caitlin’s cheek and slowly drops his hands from her face taking a step back. Caitlin nods, swallowing the knot in her throat. She’s kind of stuck to the floor, she’s not sure if she can move quite just yet..

“I—yeah, they sent me an email about a month ago informing me about a position opening up back at these new labs they’ve been keeping sort of a secret from the public. They said they were quite impressed with my work here in STAR Labs, and that I was the first choice for the spot. Something about it being ‘an opportunity of a lifetime’” she says in what she imagines to be the voice of Janice, who’d been the person to sign off in the email she received. “I’ve sort of been sitting on this for a while” Caitlin explains playing with her jacket’s buttons.

“No kidding” Barry mumbles shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I’m not taking the job though” Caitlin tells them hurriedly.

“Oh thank god!” Cisco finally speaks up.

“You’re not? How come?” Barry asks, his brows knitting together in genuine confusion.

Caitlin laughs incredulously, “what do you mean how come? I can’t just leave, and besides where would that leave us and what we’re doing for this city” she says.

“Well why not? That’s hardly an excuse to say no to New York. Also, I mean, it’s not like there’s anything special about Central City. You said it yourself, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime” he tells her.

Cisco looks so betrayed when he turns to look at Barry, brows furrowed and a deep frown on his face. “Barry, what are you—“

“You’d be better off in New York, Cait. Out of harm’s way, doing what you love, you should really consider the offer” Barry finishes.

“Oh well, I—I just thought” her voice breaks towards the end, and she’s really not sure what she’s supposed to say to that so she bites her lip instead and keeps quiet.

“Think about it, you both know I’m right” are Barry’s parting words; he presses his lips in a thin line and fishes his phone out of his pocket. He makes some lame excuse about being needed by Joe back at the station and makes a hasty retreat.

“He’s in shock, that’s probably it, look I’m sure he doesn’t mean what he just said” Cisco says coming over to hug Caitlin who’s now freely crying, tears blurring her vision as they roll down her cheeks.

“I can’t believe him” Caitlin hiccups while burying her face into Cisco’s shoulder.

“You know Barry, he doesn’t handle big news well, probably just needs some time that’s all” Cisco mumbles petting Caitlin’s hair.

“Well he can think about it while I’m gone then, see if he handles the news better then” Caitlin says decidedly. She pulls away from Cisco and wipes her tear stained cheeks.

“Excuse me, what?” Cisco asks tilting his head to the side.

“I’m taking the job, Cisco” she sniffs. “Look, I have to go pack right now if I’m going to make it there in time. I’m supposed to be in New York tomorrow afternoon to accept the job personally. Can we just ditch today? S’not like I’ll be working here anymore anyways” Caitlin mumbles bitterly.

“You can’t leave Caitlin; Barry’s an idiot that needs to wallow in his stupid man pain for a while before he realizes he’s utterly wrong. He thinks he’s doing the right thing here, he doesn’t know what’s best for you, only you know that for sure. Look me in the eyes and tell me this is what you want” Cisco has his hands clasped at her shoulders and he shakes her a little.

She averts her gaze and stares at a spot on the wall behind Cisco.

“No. but—“

“But nothing, look, you can’t just let Barry decide for you. You can’t just let him push you away like that. For someone with superhuman abilities who stares at the eyes of death at least twice a day, he’s acting like a total coward, and you know it”

Caitlin considers Cisco’s words, but the hurt Barry’s caused her right now is bigger than anything and she just needs time away.

“But it’s up to you, I won’t be like Barry and try and decide for you. I just really hope you pick whatever choice is best for you and not anyone else” Cisco squeezes her shoulder and drops a kiss on her forehead. He walks away without another single word, and Caitlin wonders how today was even real, how is it possible that she feels this emotionally drained and it’s only eleven am.

There’s an incessant ache in Caitlin’s chest so she decides to go on and buy a gallon of cookie dough ice cream, and she heads home in hopes of finding a little bit of solace in trashy rom-coms and ice cream. 

-

Out of all the reactions she imagined Barry having, this was not one of them and it stung, it hurt that Barry would just ship her off to New York and have that be the end of everything. The end of their mission to help find all the meta-humans, the end of their friendship, the end of whatever the hell it was they’d been doing for the past few months.

No, it was outrageous is what it was.

For the first time that day, Caitlin felt something other than hurt and sadness. She was angry; she was outraged that Barry was so willing to just go on about life as if they hadn’t just spent the past two years and a half working together trying to save the damn city from getting overrun by meta-humans.

He was willing to forget all the weekend movie marathons, all the times Caitlin patched him up after facing a particular difficult to defeat meta-human, or all the awkward flirtatious moments with her. How could he just not care?

She cared, a great deal actually, and maybe that’s why there was a fiery anger boiling in the pit of her stomach.

It’s not like she was expecting a huge love confession for god’s sake, she wasn’t crazy after all, but she wasn’t expecting him to send her on her marry way either. She just figured that the way things between them had been going; they’d eventually both stop dancing around each other and find courage to actually do something about their situation.

But no, Mr. Barry you-know-I’m-right Allen decided that Caitlin should just up and leave because hey, it’s a freaking opportunity of a lifetime. Cisco was right, Barry was just a coward. What a spineless little turd, Caitlin thought to herself in pure anger.

Standing up with determination, Caitlin was making her way to her room to unpack her bags when a knock at her door made her stop.

“What are you doing here, Barry? Came to try and convince me some more about how New York is where I should be?” Caitlin asks opening the door; she’d stood on her tippy-toes and seen Barry standing outside her door through the peep hole. “Or better yet, did you come here to actually put on a plane to New York, because really if—“

Caitlin doesn’t really get the chance to finish what she wanted to say because Barry’s stepping closer and cradling her face in his hands. He pulls her closer and his lips land on hers. It’s soft, sweet and a little on the desperate side. 

For a moment, Caitlin doesn’t respond out of pure shock, but she recovers quickly and she’s giving back as good as she’s getting.

Barry pulls away touching his forehead to hers, “please don’t leave” he whispers desperately.

Caitlin’s heart stutters in her chest and she swears Barry Allen is the single most confusing person on the face of this earth.

“If you think that you can just come here and kiss me like that and expect me to just forgive you—“

“I know, I know and I’m—“

“Barry, you basically packed my bags and sent me on my way without even letting me explain myself. You pushed me away as if I meant nothing to you, as if I were expendable, and now you’re here at the middle of the night asking me to stay? What the hell is that about? I don’t get it, I don’t get you! You spend all this time flirting with me, and then you go and do this? I just—“

“Could you please let me say what I came to say?” Barry pleads. Caitlin nods reluctantly, and he takes her hand in his.

“You know, you’re always talking about wanting to make a difference in this world, about how you believe you could find the cure to several diseases if you had the proper equipment and resources. And when you told us about that job offer, I immediately thought ‘this is it, this is where I lose you, but it’s okay because the world gets to witness firsthand how wonderful and great Caitlin Snow is’. I figured that that was what you wanted, that was the opportunity you had been waiting for your whole life and who was I to keep you from it? If I acted as if it didn’t faze me, you’d take the job because I really do believe you deserve better Cait. You could change this world and save it from the cluster fuck it’s slowly been turning into. You could do big and wonderful things, and you deserve a chance at it. Then you said you wouldn’t take the job and I thought the only reason you weren’t taking the job was because you didn’t want to leave us. That didn’t seem fair to me—it didn’t seem fair that you’d been working so hard your entire life, and lost so much in the process to just miss out on a huge opportunity like this one. I didn’t want to be selfish Cait, not with you, not ever” Barry finishes a little out of breath.

Caitlin thinks she might have stopped breathing for the duration of that speech because she’s breathing a little too heavily and she’s clutching on to Barry’s hands for dear life.

“Then Cisco came barging into my house spewing profanities at me, calling me an insensitive jerk, going on about how I was so incredibly dense. How could I dare and presume to know what was best for you. How dare I try and rip this family apart with my cowardliness. He yelled at me to get my head out of my ass and get my shit together. His words were ‘stop acting like a little chicken shit and get your act straight Barry, you better go and fix this shit storm or so help me god I will build another freeze ray and shoot you myself. If Caitlin leaves, I will never forgive you Barry, I promise you’. I didn’t even get a word in before he was making his way out, and you know what he was right. In my attempts of not being selfish, I ended up just looking like a self-righteous asshole who thought he knew what was best for everyone without consulting with them first” he’s smiling softly at her, like if he doesn’t know whether it’s acceptable or not.

“You should listen to Cisco more often, he knows his stuff” Caitlin says jokingly. “Barry, I don’t need a stupid fancy job in New York to accomplish all the things I’ve set out to do, haven’t you figured that out yet?” Caitlin asks. “What good is it to have all these great resources if it means I’ll be away from those I care the most about? Saving the world means nothing if I don’t have you guys right there by my side. I want to be right here with you where I can witness your stupid way of seeing the good in everybody. Where I can help you save the world one meta-human at a time. I love the way you believe so fiercely in others and I want you to believe me when I say that my place is here, with you, and Cisco. Not in New York, with some idiots that probably have zero clue of what they’re doing down in those labs” she says.

“I believe you” Barry tells her.

“So, the kiss—what was that about?” Caitlin asks a few moments later with a sly smile. 

“Well, Cisco kind of pointed out that I was probably, most likely, head over heels for you. And then he also pointed out that once you’ve made up your mind, there really isn’t any going back, so I figured that in case I couldn’t convince you to stay, I might as well go for it if I was never to have the opportunity again” Barry confesses, a light pink blush tainting his cheeks.

“You’re a moron” Caitlin says laughing delightedly, that makes Barry laugh too and he pulls her in for a hug.

“I’m sorry” Barry whispers.

“I know. I’m still mad at you though” Caitlin mumbles nuzzling her face into Barry’s chest.

“But are you really?” Barry asks pulling away too look at her.

“You’re not allowed to speak anymore” she tells him. “Also, you’re stupid for thinking I was ever going anywhere” she tells him.

“Believe me, I know” Barry assures her. “Did you actually pack?” he asks eyeing a suspicious lump by her bedroom door.

“I might have packed a bag or two, for dramatic effect you know. This was supposed to happen back at the airport. You’d come looking for me and beg me to stay, all the while professing your love for me, and I’d cry and profess my love for you as well, obviously” Caitlin jokes.

“Obviously, like a total cliché rom-com, right?” Barry laughs.

“Exactly” she agrees, “and the crowd would go wild and cheer for our love” she laughs leaning in closer to Barry.

“I love you” Barry tells her kissing her soundly.

“Believe me, I know” she says with a wink.

-

Cisco stays mad at Barry for a week, though he congratulates him for removing his head out if his ass, and hugs Caitlin and begs her to never scare him that way again.

**Author's Note:**

> Literally rewrote Barry's speech like a million times lol, but anyways I hope you liked this? Thanks for reading! xoxox
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://sarahslance.tumblr.com/post/116275512995/wont-you-stay-with-me)


End file.
